Dark Secrets
by Bibble
Summary: Gary Hobson. Tomorrow's paper comes to him every morning, giving him a chance to save the lives of people he knows and people he doesn't know. The paper is a secret from the general public and no one interferes with what happens concerning it...until now.
1. Chapter 1

EARLY EDITION: DARK SECRETS  
  
"It is now six o'clock a.m. in the busy city of Chicago. Today will be partly cloudy with scattered showers throughout the day-" Gary Hobson smacked the snooze button of his alarm clock, turning the radio off. He sat up in his bed and ran his hands through his messy, brown hair trying to comb it down to an acceptable level.  
  
There was a meowing sound at the door of Gary's living area, followed shortly by a loud thud. Gary rolled his eyes and heaved himself to his feet.  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Gary padded to the door, still in his red, flannel pajama pants and shirt, and let the persistent cat inside. The cat immediately ran inside and planted himself on the green sofa that had been placed in the center of the room. "Make yourself at home." Gary said with dull sarcasm as he picked up the morning paper from his welcome mat in the outside hall.  
  
This, however, was no ordinary morning paper. It was tomorrow's morning paper. Gary kept the paper a secret because he used it to silently save lives, and he didn't want others to interfere. He didn't know how the paper came to him or where it came from, but he had given up trying to find out. There were very few people who also knew about Gary's "gift" including his parents and his friends: Marissa, Chuck, and Erica.  
  
Gary tossed the paper on the cold kitchen counter hoping to down a cup of coffee and take a quick shower before he would have to do the paper's bidding.  
-  
  
Downstairs in McGinty's restaurant, Marissa was already up and filing through some old papers that had been so graciously given to her in brail. She tossed the pile into the trashcan just as she heard Gary's alarm clock go off upstairs, so she knew he would be down shortly.  
  
Since Marissa was blind, people thought her jobs, like cleaning up in the restaurant, would take more time but she always surprised the doubters by finishing just as quickly as anyone else would.  
  
She walked out to the main serving counter and began to wipe off the wood with a damp rag one last time before she would flip the "closed" sign on the door to "open."  
  
Her black skin stood out against her white blouse as she walked into the large kitchen to through the rag into the laundry basket. She heard Gary start his shower as she filled up a bowl of food and set it down on the floor for her guide dog, Spike. She carefully patted the German shepherd's head and walked over to the main door, switching the sign to "open."  
  
A few minutes later Gary came downstairs wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He sat on a stool at the counter silently watching Marissa work.  
  
"Good morning, Gary." She said without breaking from her current task of setting out clean glasses on the supply shelf.  
  
Gary snapped to attention. It had always fascinated him when Marissa knew he was there, even if he hadn't made a sound. "How'd you know I was down here?" He frowned slightly and motioned to the counter next to which he was sitting - a pointless gesture since Marissa couldn't see it.  
  
"I heard you come down the stairs." Marissa said simply.  
  
He sighed. He hadn't thought he'd made any noise coming downstairs, but he knew better than to doubt Marissa's keen sense of hearing.  
  
At that moment, the orange tabby cat jumped up onto the counter, purring and rubbing against Marissa's shoulder. Marissa turned and picked the cat up, cuddling him.  
  
Gary watched the scene with a raised eyebrow. "You'd better be glad somebody loves you, Cat."  
  
Marissa gave Gary a teasing scowl and put the cat down. "So, what's the paper have for you today?" She leaned against the counter and rested her chin in her hand, waiting for him to answer.  
  
"Nothing until later this evening. You know, I don't understand it. The paper doesn't seem to want me to have my own life, and then it goes and gives me a morning off." Gary reached to pick up a glass that Marissa had missed before continuing. "You know…I think I'm going to go for a walk." At nearly the same instant, a flash of lightning ripped through the sky outside, followed by a steady downpour of rain. "Well, I was going to go for a walk." He leaned back against the counter frustrated. "I knew this was too good to be true." He said giving the paper a slight shake. The cat meowed, looking up at Gary. "Oh shut up." He looked outside with a frown, seeing his plans for the day slide out of the picture just as the raindrops were sliding down McGinty's glass windows.  
  
Gary's glance outside was just in time to see a person in a very large, hooded coat walk down the sidewalk and approach the restaurant.  
  
Gary watched as the figure pushed open the large, glass door. The person walked inside, his face hidden by a drooping hood. Suddenly, the hood was lowered, revealing someone who was very familiar to both Gary and Marissa. "Hola, Senora!" The person said to Gary with a lopsided grin.  
  
"Chuck." Marissa said with little enthusiasm. She leaned against a wall and waited for Gary's reaction.  
  
"I - uh, think your Spanish needs a little work." Gary said with a forced, but believable smile. He turned to Marissa and mumbled under his breath, "You see, I knew there was a real reason that the paper gave me the morning off. I'm going to have to spend my entire day babysitting him!"  
  
Luckily, Chuck had been too busy looking around to hear Gary's mumbled comments. "Yeah, so my foreign languages are a little rusty. Who cares? I'm back!"  
  
"Yes, we see that!" Marissa said with an "innocent" smile.  
  
Gary finally managed a stressed laugh as he spoke again. "So, Chuck, what brings you here?" More like, what do you want? Gary thought to himself.  
  
"Oh, just thought I'd pay a visit to me ole' buddy! Thought we could have a 'family reunion.'" Chuck laughed. He took off his dripping coat and hung it on the coat rack by the door. "It sure is wet out there!" He shook his head, sending tiny drops of water flying through the air. "Mind if I use your shower, Gar?"  
  
Gary shrugged. "No, no go ahead."  
  
"Thanks, Buddy." Chuck nodded his head with a smile and rushed upstairs.  
  
Gary glanced at Marissa; both were speechless.  
  
It was Marissa who finally broke the silence. "Well, I guess he's back." She gave a half-hearted laugh as she pushed away from the wall and leaned up against the counter once more.  
  
"Yeah, what's it been now…three years?" Gary spoke with slight frustration.  
  
Marissa laughed. "Oh, give him a break, Gary. You know how Chuck is." She picked up a glass and filled it with water, setting it on the counter in front of her.  
  
"Of course I know how Chuck is. I know all too well how _Chuck_ is!" Gary stood up from the counter and went to the coat rack, grabbing his own coat. He stepped over the puddle of water Chuck had created in the entryway as he pulled the black leather around his t-shirt and headed for the door. "I'm going for that walk I scheduled earlier. Tell Chuck I went to get some supplies for the store and that I'll be back in about an hour." -  
Author's Note: This story takes place after the series quit filming. It's been three years since Gary and Marissa have heard from Chuck, so it's probably about three years after the last episode.

-Bibble


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
Gary rolled up his newspaper and shoved it in the large pocket of his black leather coat. The rain had died down now to a mere sprinkle, and Gary thought its coolness felt good on his face. It had been three years since Gary had seen Chuck. He should have been glad to talk to him again, but he could never seem to get past the fact that trouble followed Chuck wherever he went.  
  
It was 7:00 a.m. by the time Gary reached the drugstore, and the rain had stopped. It was still cloudy, but a few rays of sun were beginning to peek through the clouds. Gary grabbed all of the supplies he needed for the restaurant and went through the checkout line quickly. Once he was back outside, he pulled the paper out of his pocket to see if anything had changed. He flipped through the pages, finding everything the same as it had been earlier that morning. There was nothing but good news up until 5:30 p.m. when he had to stop a kid from falling off a fence railing and into the path of an oncoming train. The lack of bad stories in the paper surprised Gary, because whenever Chuck came to town…well, he was always messing things up.  
  
Gary walked down the sidewalk with a grocery sack in one hand, thinking about all of the things Chuck might want from him. By the time he reached McGinty's he had narrowed down the possibilities to: money, protection, or information from the paper to get money. Those were usually the things Chuck wanted when he came to see Gary and he would use the excuse that he was simply coming to "visit his ole' buddy."  
  
Gary opened the restaurant door and walked inside. When he saw the people sitting on stools at McGinty's main counter he stopped in his tracks. The older of the two visitors was a lady with blonde hair that was about to her shoulders. She had her back to him, but Gary would recognize her anywhere. The younger was a little boy of about 10 years old with flaming read hair and a mischievous personality to match.  
  
"Erica? Henry?" A hesitant smile lit up Gary's face as the two spun around on their stools to see who had called them. "What are you doing here?'  
  
"Gary!" Henry jumped down from the stool and ran toward Gary. He jumped up and let Gary catch him as they hugged each other. "We were passin' through and Mom said we could come visit!"  
  
Erica walked up to them with a smile and put her hands on her hips as Gary put Henry back down on the floor. "Yeah, that was the basic idea." She and Gary exchanged brief hugs also.  
  
"Boy, this _is_ a family reunion." Gary looked over at Marissa and laughed cautiously. Erica hadn't exactly left on a perfect note, and it was strange having her back here.  
  
Marissa was grinning too. Erica and Henry had arrived shortly after Gary left for the drugstore, and Marissa had almost died waiting for Gary to get back.  
  
At that moment, Chuck walked noisily down the stairs in fresh clothes, after having taken a shower, and paused when he saw the guests. "And who might we have here?" Chuck asked Gary as he tossed his previous shirt onto the counter.  
  
"Chuck, you remember Erica and Henry. Erica used to work here at McGinty's." Gary turned and watched as Chuck threw his shirt over the counter, then noticed the fresh shirt that Chuck had on. "Hey, isn't that my shirt?"  
  
Chuck shrugged with a smile. "Hey Buddy, friends share right?"  
  
Erica frowned. "Yes, we've met."  
  
Not wanting to make a scene, Gary nodded and went behind the counter. "Hey, Henry, how about a sundae?"  
  
"Of course, Gary!" Henry said eagerly. Erica nudged him. "I mean, yes please."  
  
Gary nodded to Erica. "You want anything?"  
  
"No thanks." She shook her head and looked at Chuck, slightly irritated that his shirt had whizzed right past her head.  
  
Gary finished making Henry's sundae and slid it down the counter so that it slowed to a stop right in front of him. Henry picked up the sundae and grabbed a spoon. "Thanks, Gary." He began to scoop the ice cream out of the dish and into his mouth as he watched everyone.  
  
"So, how have you been?" Marissa asked as she walked carefully up to the counter and leaned on it across from Erica.  
  
"We've been great." Erica smiled and looked at Marissa. "We've been on vacation for a while. We thought we would go to a lot of different places and 'see some of the sights,' as Henry puts it. I suggested the Sears Tower to give us a reason to come to Chicago, but he's already been there five times." She glanced at Gary and laughed. "Turns out we didn't need a reason, because Henry wanted to come here anyway."  
  
"That's great!" Marissa said, interested. She turned to where she heard Henry eating and asked, "Where have you been so far, Henry?"  
  
Gary shoved his hands in his pockets and waited to hear the boy's answer.  
  
"Well, we've been to New York, of course. We saw the Statue of Liberty! It was great…a lot of stairs though." Henry paused to take a bite of ice cream. "We also went to Washington D.C. while we were over on the east coast. It was fun too! Did you know that Washington D.C. has the highest crime rate in the U.S.A.? Pretty ironic, huh?"  
  
Gary smiled and raised a brow as Marissa laughed. "Where do you learn all this?" She asked jokingly.  
  
"You'd be surprised." Erica said as she took a napkin out of the holder and began to fold it into strange designs.  
-  
  
Later that afternoon, the rain had stopped for a while and the sun was barely peeking through the clouds once more. The whole gang had gone out to lunch at a fancy pizza restaurant that had been Henry's favorite when he had lived in Chicago. He said it was second only to McGinty's.  
  
At 4:00 p.m. they all returned to McGinty's for dessert. Henry had his usual hot-fudge-sundae, Marissa and Erica had chocolate malts, Gary had a vanilla malt, and Chuck had a strawberry smoothie.  
  
They all talked and laughed while enjoying their desserts. They went on like this until about 4:30 p.m. when Gary glanced down at his watch. He suddenly remembered the paper.  
  
"Excuse me everyone, but I have a quick errand to run." He said as he got up and headed for the door.  
  
Erica stood up too. "Do you need any help?"  
  
Gary turned to face her. "I thought you didn't believe in this." He motioned to the paper that was resting snuggly in his pocket and watched as Erica fell to the floor guiltily. He shook his head before answering her question, "No, I'll be fine. You all stay here, I'll only be an hour or so." With that, he rushed out the door, leaving behind a silent group to think solemnly about Gary's "paper duty." -  
  
As Gary was walking quickly through town he once more pulled the paper out of his coat to read the article.  
  
**TRAIN ACCIDENT KILLS BOY  
**  
_At 5:00 p.m. March 14, 2004, fifteen-year-old Ryan Raymond was killed when he fell from a fence and into the path of an oncoming train. The train had been late coming through the city. Krystal Tristen, 14, was with Raymond when he was killed. She says they were balancing on the fence when the train came by and Ryan fell.  
_  
Gary looked at his watch - 4:45. He had fifteen minutes to find Ryan Raymond and to keep him from falling in front of the train.  
  
He came to the spot where the paper said that the death took place. A short distance away he spotted a teenage boy with sandy brown hair.  
  
"Ryan?" Gary shouted as the boy looked up. "Ryan, come here!" Gary ran toward the boy.  
  
As he reached Ryan, a blonde girl came out from around the corner of a warehouse. He figured it must have been Krystal.  
  
"Ryan, you two shouldn't be playing back here! Especially not climbing on these fences. You could fall in front of a train or something." Gary said as he motioned toward the tracks.  
  
Gary noticed the girl raising an eyebrow. She gave an irritated sigh. "Nothing's going to happen to us. I come back here all the time."  
  
"I mean it," Gary said, "you need to get out of here or someone's going to get hurt."  
  
"But we-" Krystal was cut off in mid-sentence when Ryan interrupted her.  
  
"C'mon, let's just go." Ryan said as he began to walk away, not giving Krystal the chance to respond. She shot Gary an angry glare before following reluctantly.  
  
"There," Gary said looked at his watch. It said 4:57, "and with minutes to spare." He pulled the paper out of his pocket - the train story was gone. He had succeeded in stopping the train accident. He began to walk away, but a few minutes later as he rounded the warehouse, he heard the whistle of a train and its screaming brakes as it tried to skid to a stop.  
  
Gary froze as he thought her heard a sickening thud. Slowly he reached for his paper and unfolded it. Quickly his eyes flew once more to the article "**TRAIN ACCIDENT KILLS BOY**." The story was back! How was that possible? It had disappeared only minutes ago! Gary turned back toward the tracks and took off in a dead run. As he approached the fence, he saw Ryan's body lying in the middle of the tracks. 


End file.
